Bad Luck
by Red Tigress
Summary: Bad luck follows Danny to the lab in the form of a black cat. No one in the lab is safe. Halloween Fic.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is just a little Halloween plot bunny I had dancing around. I was actually planning to use it for a different fandom, but I think it works here, too. Just so everyone knows, I have nothing against cats, or black cats. In fact, I love cats! No cats were harmed in the writing of this story. Happy October, everyone!

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI: NY or am benefiting from this story in a monetary way.

CSI: NY

Danny loved New York in the fall. The trees, the smells, the sights. He would actually get off the subway before he had to, just to enjoy a longer fall walk to the lab. Come winter, he'd be right back on that train, riding it for as long as he possibly could. But for now, he would enjoy himself.

It was just one such crisp autumn morning, when a black cat happened to cross Danny's path. Danny, still weary of stray city animals, didn't do anything for a moment, but upon a quiet "meow" and a rub around his right leg, Danny couldn't resist. "Well, look at you, Mr. King of the Sidewalk." Danny leaned down to scratch the cat's head behind its ears. "Is this how you con citizens into a nice pleasure scratch?" The cat only purred in reply and continues to make figure-eights between Danny's feet. "Jeez, I'm such a sucker for animals," Danny mumbled before standing up.

As he did, he heard a hurried "Watch out!" Someone going very fast collided with him, knocking Danny flat on his back. Danny blinked a few times, still trying to comprehend what happened, when he saw a face appear in his field of vision. "Are you ok?" the man asked.

Danny gave a hurried "Yeah, fine," and took the hand offered him to help him up. He felt the back of his head, and there was a small bump that was a bit tender to the touch. Danny hissed. He looked at the guy who had crashed into him. He picked up his skateboard. "Man, I am so sorry. I was just in a hurry, and…"

"Don't worry about it." Danny shook his head. In the grand scheme of things, it really wasn't a big deal. "Just be a little more considerate of other people next time," he told the man.

"Uh, sure, no problem." The man gave an apologetic grin. "Sorry again!" He then put his skateboard back on the ground and was off again.

Danny looked around to see the cat standing between some fence posts a few feet away, unharmed. It watched him, its tail twitching back and forth. Danny sighed. "I suppose you think that was funny." He sneered. The cat didn't move. "Well, be seein ya, Cat." Danny walked away to finish his stroll to the lab.

Once he got to the lab, he opened the front doors, only to see something black go streaking by his legs. "Oh, hell no," he said, and raced after the cat. He didn't think it would actually follow him into a building! Luckily, the lobby was pretty much empty, and he had no trouble catching the cat. He wrapped his hands around its chest and brought it up to his face to look it in the eye. "This is a people building. No animals allowed." He held it at arms length, and walked back to the front doors. He pushed the door open with his back, and then dropped the cat and quickly shut the door again. "Ha!" he said. Let it figure that one out.

Danny strode back over to the elevator and pushed the button. As he waited, he heard someone calling his name. He turned around to see Don Flack jogging in his direction. "Hey!" he said.

"Hi," Danny grinned and stepped into the elevator with the detective.

"So I heard you wrapped up your case yesterday. Are you starting a new one today?" Don asked.

Danny shrugged. "I'll probably be put on someone else's to help em out." He said. "I'm not sure yet."

Flack nodded, and began looking around the elevator trying to think of more small talk. Then he noticed something in the corner. "What's that?" he asked, pointing.

Danny looked in the direction Flack had indicated, and noticed a large black ball of fuzz curled up in the corner. Danny couldn't believe. "Uhhhh, that's…a cat…" he finished lamely. Danny turned back to Don, only to find him scrunched in the opposite corner of the elevator from the cat. "Don?" he then noticed what the detective was doing and laughed. "I take it you're more of a dog person?" Danny asked.

Flack looked back to him. "It's not that I don't like cats, I don't like being in enclosed spaces with them. Besides, that one's black! It's bad luck!" The cat yawned, showing off its pointy teeth. "Jeez, look how sharp those are!" Don said.

Danny snickered and picked up the cat and held it in his arms. "Honestly man, you are so strange. I can't believe you don't like cats." Danny took the cat and held it closer to Don. Don dashed to the other side of the elevator.

"Seriously man, keep it away from me! It could have rabies or somethin!" Danny sighed.

"Don't be such a wimp, Flack, it's just a cat." The elevator chimed and the doors opened. Flack was off in a heartbeat. Danny was a little slower to get off.

"Danny, might want to get rid of that before Mac sees you carrying around a biohazard." Danny scrunched up his face in an _I don't believe you,_ expression. Inwardly though, Danny couldn't believe it. How did the cat get into the building and manage to sneak on the elevator? Crazy. He'd have to get rid of it again, but next time he would bring it to a shelter. He'd have to wait until his lunch break though; he was late enough as it was.

Since the lab was no stranger to Danny carrying around animals in the lab, nobody really said anything as he walked by. He got a few weird looks from people that noticed anything at all.

He was walking down the hall when Stella approached him. "Hey, Dr. Doolittle," she greeted. "Made a new friend, I see." She reached over to scratch the cats ears, which made it purr in satisfaction.

"Yeah, well, I have the gift, I guess. The thing followed me into the building. It was damn sneaky. You shoulda seen Flack, though. It was like Indiana Jones in the snake pit." Danny grinned.

Stella laughed. "Well, I'm glad I ran into you, I need your help on some processing. I have a lot of clothes to work with, and not that much time to do it. I already cleared it with Mac."

"Sure thing, let me just find somewhere to leave this guy until I can take him out of here."

Stella nodded. "Ok, meet you in the lab!" she said, and walked down the hall. Danny sighed. He couldn't tie the cat to a table leg or anything like that. After ducking in and out of a few offices, he found and empty printer paper box. It would fit the cat nicely, and it could curl up in there. Danny put the cat down to cut some air holes in the box.

"There you go," he told the cat as he eased him in. "Your temporary new home." He then put the lid on, and put a few strands of tape on it to keep the cat in. He carried the box to the break room (since he couldn't bring it to the lab), and left a note on the box that said "Live cat. Please leave alone." Danny sighed. It was the best he could do on short notice. He leaned down to look in one of the air holes, and saw glowing yellow eyes staring back at him. "Now, you be a good cat, and curl up nicely and go to sleep. You could get me in a lot of trouble, you know." The cat meowed, and Danny set the box on the floor, and went to find Stella.

CSI: NY

It didn't like the box. Boxes were too constricting. It needed to roam free and explore. After all, that's what cats were all about.

The cat began tearing away with its claws at one of the air holes in the side of the box, unnoticed by anyone who walked by the break room.

CSI: NY

Lindsey Monroe had just left Mac's office. She had reported to him that there had been a break in her case, and she was confident she had enough evidence to make an arrest. Smiling to herself, she turned a corner.

Something small and black sped across the hallway right in front of her which in turn made Lindsey take a bad step. She slipped on the wet floor which someone had been mopping and landed hard on her side. However, since the floor was slick, her momentum wasn't stopped, and she slid into the offending mop and bucket at the other end of the wet floor.

Almost in slow motion she saw the bucket tip and sudsy, dirty water spilled all over her. She could only scream in hopeless frustration as a horrible ending took over what had been a good morning.

CSI: NY

Danny looked up from the shirt he had been examining in the lab. He had heard an angry, high-pitched growl, followed by a stream of curses and the sound of something plastic, probably being kicked. He walked to the doorway and stuck his head into the hallway, looking for the source of the noise.

He saw Lindsey, soaked and standing in the middle of the hallway, fists clenched a look of pure rage on her face. He would have laughed at the unusual sight, but at that moment, Lindsey chose to send a death glare in his direction. He scrunched up his face to keep from laughing.

"Something funny, Messer?" she said in a very cold, deliberate tone. Danny gulped, and his voice became a little high pitched as he mumbled,

"No," He then cleared his throat and became more serious. "Uh, what happened?"

She snorted. "I slipped. But it wasn't my fault…" she trailed off as Flack took that moment to round the corner, and stopped dead at the huge puddle on the floor, the soaking, enraged Lindsey, and the confused-looking Danny in the middle of the hall. Flack burst into laughter.

Danny tried to send it a "cut it out" look, but Flack ignored him. "Holy…crap…" Flack managed between bouts of laughter. "You look…like you…just…got off…the Titanic!" At this, Danny couldn't help but snicker.

Flack found himself quickly dodging a dirty mop that was sent flying his way by Lindsey. "Woah there, calm down crazy lady!" covering his head in defense. She seemed a little calmer after being able to chuck something, so Flack approached her cautiously. "What happened?"

"As I was saying," she started. "I was walking, and something ran under my feet making me loose my footing. I slipped and fell and slid into the bucket. It must have been some kind of animal, although, I have no idea how it got in here."

At the mention of "animal", Flack looked alarmingly at Danny. His movements didn't go unnoticed by Lindsey.

"What is it?" she asked.

Neither man answered. Instead, Danny started running in the direction of the break room followed closely by Flack.

"Hey, wait!" Lindsey protested, but they were already long gone. Lindsey sighed and started toward the locker room where she had a change of clothes and hopefully some shampoo.

CSI: NY

Danny skidded to a halt in front of the break room. He looked immediately for the box he had left the cat in, only to find one side torn to shreds, currently with no animal residing inside.

At that moment Flack arrive right behind Danny, out of breath, and saw the box.

"Danny, you better catch that animal, before something even worse happens?"

Danny sighed. "Stop being such a baby, Flack." Of course, while Don was talking about bad luck being the worst thing, Danny's mind was traversing a worse imaginary path. A path that ended in Mac Taylor's office. "Don, you have to help me find that cat," Danny said, turning to his friend.

Unfortunately for Danny, Flack's friendship didn't cover superstitions. "No way, man. You got into this on your own, I don't want anything to do with that devil animal!"

Danny started walking away from Flack and threw up his hands in frustration. "Fine! Be a selfish jerk! When I'm fired for letting an animal loose in the lab, don't expect me to come around looking to shoot hoops with you!"

Flack, now feeling guilty, caught up with Danny. "Ok, I'll help you find your cat. But don't expect me to touch him!"

"Fair enough," Danny smiled. "Let me go find Stella and tell her what's going on. I haven't helped her out as much as she hoped, I think, so I owe her an explanation."

Flack nodded, and Danny went back to find Stella.

CSI: NY

Flack had been popping his head in and out of offices for the past 20 minutes. Anyone he asked had not seen the cat, and most people gave him very weird stares when he inquired about a "devil cat".

Flack had just finished covering about a quarter of the offices, and was about to turn to another area of the lab, when he noticed the door to the stairwell was ajar. Curious, he moved towards it, and walked through the doorway. He walked to the edge of the platform, and peered over the edge to see if he could see the cat on the floor below.

"Here, kitty." Flack felt like an idiot, but there was no one around. He was about to go back, when he heard a vicious "yowl" behind him.

He spun around quickly, and noticed the cat was there, hissing at him. He didn't move. "Hey, kitty, I was just kidding earlier about that devil cat stuff!" The cat only continued to hiss.

Flack quickly pulled out his cell and speed dialed Danny.

"Messer."

"Danny, it's Flack, found your cat in the stairwell, I think it's about to attack me!"

"What?"

"You heard what I said, I'm dead serious!"

"Ok, hold on a minute, I'm heading your way." Danny hung up.

Flack wasn't really sure what to do then. He started to step to his left, but the cat moved faster than lightening and cut him off, making him drop his phone in surprise. The cat mistook this for an attack, and leaped straight up in the air, and making Don cry out in surprise and leaning backwards to avoid scratches to his chest. Don lost his balance, and fell backwards down the stairs.

The wind was knocked out of him as he bounced down the stairwell. When he landed, there was a loud crack, and pain flared in his right wrist, making him cry out.


	2. Chapter 2

Danny jogged to the end of the hall. The door was propped slightly open, and Danny noticed a small, black streak shoot out of it. He was about to go after the cat when he heard a cry of pain from the stairwell. Ignoring the cat, he opened the door the rest of the way and looked for the source of the noise. He looked down and saw Don, spread out at the bottom of the stairs, clutching his wrist, his features contorted in pain.

"Jesus, Don!" he exclaimed and hurried down the stairs to his friend.

Flack looked up at Danny. "Your damn…cat…" he said through gritted teeth. "Made me…fall…my wrist…" Danny gingerly took Flack's wrist. It was already starting to swell.

"Jeez, Don, I think this is broken." Danny said.

"It is broken!" Flack spat at Danny. "Just...help me up, will ya?" Danny attributed Flack's anger towards the pain. He took Flack's good arm and helped him to stand. "Also…you have to drive me…to the hospital cause…your cat." Flack finished, nearly out of breath.

Danny laughed. "Fair enough," he said. He helped Flack up the stairs. Once there, he walked him towards the elevator. They took it down to the basement levels where Don's car was parked. Flack fished his keys out of his pocket with his good hand and gave them to Danny. Danny opened the driver's side door, and waited for Don to get in the other side. He pulled out his phone.

After to rings, the other side picked up.

"Taylor."

"Hey, Mac, it's Danny," Danny started. "Uh, I'm driving Don to the hospital, because he broke his wrist."

"What?" Someone who didn't know Mac may have mistaken his tone for anger, but Danny knew it was bewilderment.

"Yeah, he fell down some stairs. It's a long story, but in any case, I'm not sure when I'll be back."

"Ok, Danny, that's fine. Keep me updated." With that, Mac hung up.

As Danny was putting his phone away, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned to look, he didn't see anything.

"Hurry up, man, I'm in pain here!" Flack called to him. Danny sighed and got in the car.

CSI: NY

Danny waited patiently outside of Flack's hospital room as doctor's finished putting his wrist in a cast. It was broken, but luckily Flack didn't have any other injuries from his nasty tumble down the stairs. When they had finished, Danny went into Flack's room.

"Hey," Don greeted. "You know, this is all that cat's fault." He waved his newly wrapped wrist to show Danny. "And I'm not talking superstition-like. It actually attacked me! But at least I got some insured vicodin out of this whole ordeal." Flack waved his other hand to show Danny his prescription.

Danny sighed heavily and sat on Flack's bed. "Whoop de freakin' doo, you can walk around the office high on pain meds now."

Flack laughed and leaned back on the bed he was on. "Naah, wouldn't do that. I'll just take a few days off, and then I can come back to work."

"That's good. When can you leave?" Danny asked.

"As soon as I sign some paperwork I can get out of here," Flack said.

A short time later, the two detectives found themselves headed back through the parking lot towards Don's car. As Danny unlocked it, he heard a soft meow from somewhere off to his left. He turned, to see the black cat sitting and looking at him, his tail twitching slightly. "No freakin'' way…" he breathed.

Flack came around from the side of the car to look at what Danny was talking about. His eyes widened in horror and he ran around to the other side of the car. "Keep that thing away from me!" he yelled, clutching his wrist and jumping into the passenger's side of the car and slamming the door quickly. Danny sighed, and leaned down to let the cat sniff his hand.

"Come on, cat, it's going to be ok, I'm just going to take you to a nice shelter, away from my friends…" the cat responded by running off. Danny raced after it, his thoughts accompanied by Don's muffled voice from the SUV.

"Come on, Danny, let it go, I want to get outta here!"

"In a sec!" Danny called back. He followed the cat down the row of cars into a dark corner of the garage, where the cat stopped. Danny tried leaning down again. "Don't worry, cat, just gonna take you to a nice kitty home."

The fur on the back of the cat suddenly stood up, and the cat hissed. But not at Danny. A split second later, Danny heard a click, accompanied by the cold steel of the barrel of a gun to his head.

"Your money. Now." A low voice said. "No funny business."

Danny sighed. "You must be some kinda sicko, jumpin' someone at a hospital." The reply was having the gun pressed harder into his head. "All right, all right. I'm going for my wallet, don't freak out or nothin'…" Danny reached inside his jacket, but instead of going for his wallet, he started to go for his gun.

The guy must have guessed what he was trying to do, because he tensed up and started to pull the trigger. But he forgot about the cat.

The cat leapt over Danny's shoulder into the guy's face, clawing and hissing. The man pulled the trigger, and the slug clipped Danny's arm, making him grunt as the white hot pain flared in his bicep. The guy screamed as the cat continued his attack, and Danny stood up quickly pulling his own gun. The man grabbed the cat and threw it to the ground, aiming a vicious kick at it. The cat tried to dodge, but couldn't get out of the way in time. With a yowl, it fell to the floor, but then got up and started to hobble away, one leg limp.

By that time, Danny had closed the distance in between the two of them. He grabbed the guy's gun hand, twisting viciously, making him drop his piece. "Freeze! Get on the ground, right now!" Danny pulled out his cuffs. He noticed Don running towards him.

"Danny, you all right?" he asked, breathless.

"Yeah, just got clipped a little. Will you call for some guys to take this guy downtown?" he asked.

"Sure thing." Flack pulled out his phone, and dialed dispatch, relaying instructions. Confident that the guy was not going anywhere, Danny walked over to the cat, where it was licking its limp paw. He picked it up gingerly, and held it against his chest.

"You did good, cat. You did good." The cat only purred in response.

Sometime later, more uniforms arrived to take in the guy who had attacked Danny. Flack had teased Danny about being lucky he was already in a hospital, and maybe he should make it a regular habit whenever he fought perps. Danny was quickly bandaged up.

As they were exiting the hospital, yet again, Danny said he needed to take the cat to the vet. Upon seeing Flack's look of disbelief, he said "Well, it did save my life. I think it deserves some medical attention, at least."

"And then are you taking it to the shelter?"

"Well," Danny started. "I think I might adopt it." Flack sighed.

"I knew it. You're such a softie, Messer."

They got into the car, and despite Flack's protests, Danny placed the cat on the detective's lap, where it purred contentedly for the ride to the vet. "Oh, so now that we're even, you like me." He said. With his good hand, he scratched the cat behind the ears. Danny smiled. "So, you gonna call it something besides 'cat'?" Flack asked.

"I was thinking of calling it Don," Danny laughed.

"Don't you dare, Messer. I don't like it that much." Don said.

"Haha, I was just kidding. Anyways, I have something more appropriate. I think I'll call him Jinx."

THE END

Don't worry, the cat got patched up, and all is well. Thanks for the reviews for the first chappie! If you liked the story, or even if you didn't, I'd really appreciate you reviewing it! Happy Halloween everyone!

-Red T.


End file.
